


Auribus Teneo Lupum

by Cindiez



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, connor sees dead people, i'm not sure for the ships rn, if you are confused about each's power i will explain them more in details later in the story, the major character death are canon deaths, watch me as i make background characters important
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-01 14:49:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15776289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cindiez/pseuds/Cindiez
Summary: In a world where some humans have blue blood and powers, life is not easy when you are haunted by sassy angsty spirits, adopt a traumatized child when you feel people's emotions or have visions of your friends dying.Alternate Universe where androids are humans with superpowers and are called deviants.





	1. Velocius quam asparagi conquantur

**Author's Note:**

> "Holding a wolf by the ears"; it is used to describe an unsustainable situation, and in particular one in which both doing nothing and doing something to resolve it are equally risky.
> 
> Trigger warning for death, gun shots, mention of abuse.

Connor fidgeted with his coin as he was staring at the floor numbers slowly rising. He exhaled loudly. It was his first official mission, facing real people and threats, and even though he had been trained since he was young to execute things like this, his stomach was tied in knots.

 

_ Don’t let your emotions get in your way, Connor _ , he thought.

 

Finally, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. 

 

“Negotiator on site. I repeat, negotiator on site.” 

 

Connor stepped in the hallway and looked around him. The apartment was a mess, but it didn’t surprise him considering the  _ mess  _ of the situation. The fish tank was broken, water spilling on the floor. Connor saw a fish forgotten on the parquet, and walked over the animal, carefully avoiding the glass shards. He knelt to take it in his hand, and put it back in the water. 

 

_ This was useless _ , he thought as he walked to the living room.

 

A woman runs over him.

 

“Oh, please, please, you gotta save my little girl!” She took his arms in her hands as she implored him. Connor guessed she was the mother of the girl he had to save. 

She stared at him and stopped crying, anger filling her eyes instead of tears. 

 

“You’re a deviant too.” She turned to the soldier next to her, and pointed at the chip on his temple. “Why would you send another freak?!”

 

“We need to go ma’am.” The soldier took her arm and forced her to step away from Connor.

 

“You can’t do that! He’s as dangerous as that murderer! He could kill her too!” 

 

Connor ignored the woman’s scream. He had a mission to accomplish. He searched the apartment for the Captain, hoping to more about the situation. Cyberlife didn’t fill him in with all the details. 

 

He found the man in the parents’ bedroom, talking angrily on the phone as he walked frantically around the room.

 

“Captain Allen?” Connor spoke up, the Captain turned to face him, “My name is Connor, I’m the negotiator sent by Cyberlife.” He ignored the android and spoke instead to the soldier next to him.

 

“Have you tried the code to shock him?” Connor asked. 

 

“Of course we did, it just doesn’t work,” the Captain muttered. 

 

“Do you know if he had been behaving strangely before now?” 

 

“Listen, saving the kid is all that matters. Now take care of that deviant or I’ll do it myself.”

 

Connor stared at him for a second, before nodding and turning away. He walked in the living room once again, he would have to find information another way. On the carpet was the corpse of the victim. Connor didn’t look too much at it,  _ unnecessary _ . Instead he focused on the heavy presence behind him. He turned to see a floating person staring at the corpse.

 

At  _ his  _ corpse.

 

“What’s your name?” Whispered Connor to the ghost.

 

The ghost didn’t answer for a moment.

 

“John. Phillips John.” The ghost turned to face him. He had two holes in his chest, Connor guessed they were from gunshots, a nearly transparent body, and eyes lacking irises like most ghosts.

 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Connor saw a soldier staring at him like he was crazy. He knew he looked like he was talking to himself, but Connor couldn’t care less; he had a  _ mission _ .

 

John sat on the couch and exhaled loudly, like he needed to breath again. 

 

“We hireda babysitter for my daughter, Emma. At first we didn’t mind that he was a deviant. His power was harmless. Teleportation, the power everyone wants. Emma loved it. But…Sometimes, when he was tired or emotional, he would teleport elsewhere. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Emma. My wife and I were very scared he would teleport with her and never come back, so we started to search for another babysitter. A human one.” John pointed at the tablet on the floor. “I guess Daniel discovered it and got emotional.”

 

The ghost stood up and walked over to Connor. The room felt colder and the android shivered a bit.

 

“Please, save my daughter.”

 

“I will, John.” 

 

Connor decided it was enough, and went outside. A bullet whizzed through window.

 

“Don’t come closer or I’ll jump!” The negotiator saw a blond man balancing with a small child on the edge of the building. The girl begged him to stop as the deviant raised his gun to her head.

Connor took a step forward and shouted.

 

“Hi, Daniel.” 

 

“How-” The deviant started but Connor cut him off.

 

“My name is Connor.”

 

“How do you know my name?” Daniel asked again.

 

“I know a lot of things about you, Daniel. I’m here to get you out of this.” Connor took a few step further. He saw another ghost staring helplessly at the deviant. This one had one hole in his chest and his hair was wet. He guessed this was the ghost of the man floating in the pool.

Connor stared at him and the ghost looked surprised someone could see him. 

 

“He’s stubborn.” The ghost said.

 

“I will manage,” answered Connor.

 

He walked closer to the deviant.

 

“I know you’re angry Daniel, but you need to trust me. I can help you..” 

 

“I don’t want your help!” The deviant cut him off, shouting, “Nobody can help me!”

 

Connor took a few more step before Daniel pointed the gun at his head.

 

“Are you armed?” He shouted.

 

He answered no, showing his hands. He wasn’t lying.

 

Connor saw a man on the ground bleeding, but no ghost. He wondered if he was still alive, but thought it would be better if he fixed the hostage situation first.

 

Connor thought about how to calm the blond. He had several options, and chose to talk like he understood him. 

 

“They were going to fire you, and it made you upset,” Connor started. “That’s what happened, right?”

 

“I thought I was part of the family. I thought I mattered, that I was accepted for once. But they scared of me, like everyone else!” He pointed the gun at Emma once again.

 

“But you just gave them a reason to be scared of you.” Daniel didn’t answer, tears running down his face. 

 

Connor tried again.

 

“You and Emma were very close, she wasn’t scared of you, right?”

 

“She lied to me! I thought she liked me;” Daniel shook his head, “guess I was wrong. She’s like every other human.”

 

Connor wanted to tell him she was the one with a gun to her head and that the android had killed her father, but knew it was a bad idea, and it would only upset the deviant more. Connor couldn’t let him kill her, nor could he let him teleport away.

 

“Listen, I know it’s not your fault. You’re feeling a lot of emotions.”

 

“No, it’s not my fault,” More tears ran down the blond’s face, “I never wanted this. I loved them. But they didn’t love me back!” 

 

Daniel looked up to the helicopter flying next to the building. 

 

“I can’t stand the noises, make it go away!”

 

Connor accepted and waved the helicopter away.

 

“It seems like it’s working,” John’s ghost breathed behind him, “He’s a bit calmer!”

 

The ghost was right, but Connor couldn’t afford to get complacent.

 

“You have to trust me Daniel, let the hostage go and I promise you everything will be fine!”

 

Daniel was shaking, the gun nearly falling out of his hand.

 

“Nothing will happen to you. You have my word.”

 

“Okay.” Daniel breathed. “I trust you.” 

 

He let go of Emma who ran to the edge of the pool, far away from Daniel.

 

Connor couldn’t control what happened next.

 

Three gunshots. A first on in the android’s left side, another one his right shoulder. A last one in his left cheek, tearing skin and muscles appart. Blue blood spilling on the ground.

 

Daniel fell to his knees.

 

“You lied to me, Connor.” He accused him. “You lied to me.” His voice faded away and his life went with it . Connor looked at the corpse, hearing the soldier entering onto the roof to clean it up.

 

After a moment, he heard cries coming from the body. Slowly a pale figure escaped. He looked at himself, then at Connor. 

 

“You lied to me.” He accused him one more time. The ghost grabbed his arms and cried more, repeating the same sentence over and over again. 

Connor tried to calm him, shushing him or excusing himself, but the ghost continued. He slammed his fists off the ground and screeched, white noises filling Connor’s ears. He felt the ground shaking and nearly lost his balance. The windows behind him broke into millions of pieces and Connor sprinted to protect Emma, holding her into his arms.

After a few minutes of the white noise and shaking, the ghost finally calmed down and faded away. Connor could still hear the soft cryings, but could not see him.

 

Connor slowly stood up, still holding Emma against him. She and the numerous soldiers asked the same question: what happened? 

 

He was concerned about Daniel; he has  affected the living world, meaning he was an unstable  _ and  _ strong ghost.

 

Connor had accomplished his mission, but he knew it wouldn’t be the last time he would see Daniel’s ghost.

  
  


\----

 

“I haven’t been able to clean the house for a while so the place is a mess.” Kara glanced at the house quickly. It was indeed. She was a bit repulsed by the state of the house, but it was her job, and she was paid for that. She had plans to  move to Canada, so she saved money and did all kinds of jobs she could find.

Kara was a bit confused; the house was cheap and in a bad state, but she saw several quite advanced and new technologies; like a big holographic television.  _ He probably doesn’t have the same priorities as others _ , she thought.

 

“You do the housework, the washing, you cook the meals, and you take care of…” Todd looked around. “Shit, where the fuck’s the brat gone now? Alice?  _ ALICE _ ?”

 

Kara stared at Todd. He emanated a strong red aura, an angry aura. She immediately distrusted the man, but couldn’t do much at the moment.

 

“Oh, there you are.” He leaned over the stairs to look at the little girl who was seated on them.

 

“Homework, bath, all that crap…” Kara smiled at Alice, but she turned away to look at her plush. She hoped she will be able to talk with the girl more more.

 

“Got it?” Todd asked.

 

Kara nodded.

 

“Good. Start downstairs, and when you’re finished you do upstairs.” 

 

While cleaning, Kara overheard Todd’s phone call. “I can get that. You know where”. At that moment Todd wasn’t angry, but more serious, maybe a bit stressed too. 

 

Kara knew she wouldn’t come back to work here.

 

She quickly finished cleaning the downstairs, happy to be able to work further from Todd.

 

She decided she would wash the dirty clothes first, then she could try to get to know more about Alice. She was really curious about her, and a bit scared if she was honest. 

 

Kara put the laundry in the washing machine. She looked around for detergent, and found it on a shelf nearby. She was going to put some in the machine when she noticed a small packet in it. She pulled it out and let it fall on the floor when she saw what it was. It was red ice. 

 

She felt Todd’s presence behind her, and before she could react, his hand was gripping her neck tightly.

 

“You shouldn’t mess around with my stuff, it makes me nervous.”

 

Kara knew he wasn’t nervous at all, frustrated, upset, and bothered were better words to describe his emotions.

 

She apologised and Todd released her.

 

She quickly did the rest of the chores, wanting to leave as fast as possible.

 

Kara passed in front of Alice’s room, and decided she should play with her a little bit.

 

When she opened the door, the girl crawled into a pillow castle with her plush. Kara opened the window to let on fresh air and kneeled in front of Alice.

 

“How old are you?”

 

Alice aura’s was a dark green with a touch of orange. She was wary and confused.

 

“I won’t hurt you, you can trust me, I just want to play with you a little.”

 

Kara approached a slowly and Alice hunched more. The woman took a step back, she didn’t want to make the girl uncomfortable.

 

“You seem to really like this plush, it’s a fox, isn’t it?” 

 

The girl nodded, and Kara felt she was warming up some. She smiled.

 

“What is your power?” Alice asked, nearly whispering.

 

Kara was surprised by the question, but she gently smiled when she felt the girl was just curious.

 

“I’m an empath. It means I can feel what others feel, and spread what I feel to people.” As she spoke, she send a soft, calming wave. Alice eyes widened a little and squeezed her toy more. 

Alice didn’t have a chip, so Kara guessed she wasn’t a deviant.

 

After a moment, the girl pointed at her drawer. Kara walked over it and opened it. Inside where a pile of drawings. She turned to look at Alice and send her a sympathetic wave.

On the first drawing was, Alice holding Todd’s and a woman’s hands, who she supposed was her mom. Todd was making an angry face on it. The second was about the mom and Todd yelling at each other, black scribbles in their speech bubbles. Alice was in middle of them, drawn really small and hunched.

On the third one was Todd hitting the woman.

 

Kara was afraid, and for a moment she let the feeling spread over the house. She felt Alice tense.

 

On the last one, the woman was running away with a bag, while Todd and Alice stayed at the home. Alice was touching a scribble of red, written plus signs all over it.

 

Kara turned to face the girl. It wasn’t right. Kara  _ had  _ to do something, anything.

 

\----

 

Music filled Markus’ ears as he played the piano. He wasn’t playing anything special, he was just messing with notes and rhythms, trying to find combination that was harmonious.

 

“You’re getting better and better everyday,” a voice interrupted him.

 

Markus stopped playing and raised his head to look at Carl who was standing next to him.

 

“Dad... You’re saying that because you like me, I’m not playing Mozart or anything.” Markus let out an embarrassed whine. 

 

“I’m not kidding! It’s really good, Markus!”

 

Markus blushed; he still wasn’t used to compliments, it wasn’t something people usually gave him.

 

“Come one, now your face is all blue. You look like one of my paintings.” 

 

Markus laughed as he stood.

 

“Speaking of paintings, don’t you have one to finish?” He smirked at him. 

 

“Right, right, I know, I just don’t know what to add, and it still looks… off,” Carl breathed, closing his eyes. 

 

“Maybe a new perspective will inspire you?”

 

Carl agreed, making a go ahead motion with his hand. Markus grabbed the wheelchair handle, and pushed Carl to his painting room. 

 

“Let’s see where we left off.” Markus helped Carl to sit on the mechanical chair, and removed the cloth covering the painting.

 

“I don’t know. I like this painting, and I don’t like it at the same time.” Carl turned to face Markus. “I’m sure if you used your vision power you could see what future-me drew and kindly tell me about it.” Carl winked, laughing gently.

 

“I’ve already told it doesn’t work like that.” Markus answered as he cleaned the room. The floor was covered with different colored paint, but Carl never wanted to clean it. He thought it was more artistic, and also this room was the only messy room in the house. “Let me have this.” He often said.

 

“If you removed that chip right there, I’m sure you would be able.” Carl gestured at his temple with his brush. 

 

“Even before I had it, I wasn’t able to “read the future”,” Markus imitated the quotation mark to emphasize his point, “I can only envision different actions I can do, sees the different outcomes and guess which one is the best. It isn’t that useful in daily activities.”

 

Carl only smiled. 

 

“How about you paint something? You already know how to do music, another form of art can’t hurt you.” He handed over his brush and pointed to a blank canvas.

 

Markus shrugged and took the brush. He placed the canvas on an easel and put a few colors on a palette. He glanced at Carl, not sure of what he was supposed to do.

 

“Go ahead! Draw whatever comes to your mind.”

 

But his mind was blank. It wasn’t like piano, he wasn’t adding notes one after another. He had to imagine everything. The shapes, the colors.

_ Whatever comes to my mind _ … It could totally be what he was seeing, right?

 

He started to paint the mess in front of him, the opened can of paints, the used brushes and-

 

“Stop what you’re doing right there.” Markus did as Carl told him.

 

“You’re going to paint what you’re seeing. It’s a good training, but it’s not what I meant. Paint an idea, an emotion, something that doesn’t exist  _ yet _ .” 

 

Markus took down the used canvas and put a new one on the easel. Still, the same problem came up.

 

“Close your eyes for a minute.”

 

He closed his eyes, and tried to think of what Carl suggested.  _ Something that doesn’t exist yet _ . The words resonated within him. Without him knowing, his power activated. He saw, with his eyes still closed, several hands,  _ his  _ hands, brushing over the painting, creating shapes. He felt his hand moving. He heard the tip of the brush against the canvas. 

Even when he opened his eyes, he wasn’t sure of what he was seeing, nor doing. 

 

After a moment, his body stopped moving. He finally regained some sort of consciousness. He stared at the painting, incapable of understanding what happened.

 

The canvas wasn’t white anymore, it was dark, muddy, distinguished shapes,  _ human-like shapes _ , piled up. In the middle of the painting, someone standing, covered in mud too, features unrecognizable, staring at us, on eye blue, the other green, glowing. 

 

“Oh my god…”

 


	2. Ignotum per Ignotius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The obscure by the more obscure"; refers to an unhelpful explanation that is just as (or even more) confusing than that which it is attempting to explain.
> 
> Connor meets people, dead and alive.  
> Kara is scared and so is Markus.
> 
> Trigger warning for emotional and physical abuse, death (duh) and Connor being sassy.

Connor put his coin back in his pocket when he approached Jimmy’s bar. He was searching for Lieutenant Anderson. It was the fifth bar he’d tried, and if he wasn’t in it he would resolve the crime alone. The detective didn’t understand why he needed to team up with someone from the police, but Cyberlife made it clear he didn’t have a voice in the matter. 

 

Connor was about to enter the bar when he noticed a pale figure turning around a street light. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a child. He approached the ghost.

 

“What is your name, little one?”

 

The child stopped playing to look at him and asked.

 

_ “You can see me?” _

 

Connor hummed in response.He did not have time to lose, even more for a ghost.

 

_ “That’s cool. Things can get pretty lonely here. I see a lot of people since my dad is a policeman, but they are not usually... nice.” _ The kid looked at the ground, fidgeting with his hands.  _ “My name Cole. Cole Anderson.” _

 

Connor tensed. It was the Lieutenant son.

Once again Cyberlife didn’t fill him with all the details, but they told him enough to know the Lieutenant had suffered a lot.

 

“Can you help me find you father? I’m going to work with him.”

 

_ “Yes, he’s inside.” _ The kid pointed at the bar.

 

Connor pushed the door, ignoring the sign saying deviants aren’t allowed to enter, Cole following him.

 

_ “Does that mean I will see you often?” _

 

Connor looked at the child for a second, shrugging.

 

“I suppose.”

 

_ “Neat.” _

 

The detective frowned when he entered the bar, a strong smell of alcohol entering his nose. He really didn’t like this scent. 

 

_ “My dad is the one with the long grey hair. He’s very grumpy though.” _

 

_ Seems to be my lucky day, a grumpy man that hates deviants _ , Connor thought. He walked over said man, ignoring the distrustful looks.

“Lieutenant Anderson, my name is Connor, I’m the detective sent by Cyberlife.”

 

The Lieutenant didn’t answer for a moment, staring at his drink.

 

“What do you want.”  _ This is going to be fun _ , Connor thought.

 

“You were assigned on a case earlier this evening, involving a deviant. According to the newest procedure, the company allocates trained deviant detectives to help solve the case.”

 

“Well, I don’t need any help, especially from a deviant. Now be a good “trained deviant detective” and leave.” The lieutenant retorted, making a ‘go-away’ hand motion.

 

Connor let out a sigh. It was going to be difficult.

 

“Listen, I think you should stop drinking and come with me. It would be easier for the both of us. It would be easier for everyone.” He tried to reason with the human.

 

The man only laughed at this, taking a sip from his glass.

 

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but I must insist. I have been ordered to work with you.” 

 

The man laughed again.

 

“You know where you can stick your instructions?”

 

Connor took a quick look at Cole who was sitting next to his dad. 

 

“No, where?” He answered, trying his best not to smile.

 

Hank stared at him, annoyed.

 

“Nevermind.”

 

Connor sighed once again. This was hopeless.

 

_ “You can try buying him another drink, he likes it a lot.” _ Cole suggested. The detective laughed inside; he did seem like he had a problem with alcohol.

 

“You know what? I will buy you another drink. Bartender, another drink please.” He searched in his pocket for money and put it on the counter. It better be worth it.

 

The lieutenant drank the refilled glass in one gulp.

 

“Did you say a homicide?”

 

Connor smiled.

 

___

 

The ride to the crime scene was long;

The Lieutenant was awfully quiet and Connor hated it. It was awkward. He was bad at small talk and he couldn’t speak to Cole either. He was even afraid to play with his coin, so he just brushed his fingers over the scars on his hands. They were small, but it reminded him Daniel’s ghost could be back at any moment. He felt his presence sometimes, but the ghost was quiet for the moment.

 

“What even is your power anyway?” Hank finally broke the silence, distracting Connor from his thoughts. “It must be some detective shit if you a “trained deviant detective”. Since when does that even exist.” He muttered the last part to himself but Connor heard it anyway.

 

“I have been trained since I was a child to hunt deviants that act against the law.” Connor paused. He didn’t tell people he could see dead people, they would either not take him seriously, be offended by it or ask him if he could see their dead relatives. It annoyed him.

Plus he didn’t want to tell him his son was sitting on the back sit, counting the red cars he saw.

 

“My power is complicated to explain, but the only thing you need to know is that I detect things others can’t, and I often talk alone. Don’t be worried about it.”

 

The Lieutenant hummed in response, not satisfied by the answer. 

 

“We’re here. You wait in the car, I won’t be long.” Hank said as he got out of the car.

 

Connor did the same. 

 

“I’m afraid I cannot, Lieutenant.”

 

Hank huffled.

 

“The little shit.”

 

Connor acted as though he didn’t hear it and followed him.

 

“Don’t talk or touch anything, got it?” The man ordered. The detective just answered with a dry yes.

 

A wave of nausea hit him the moment he entered the house. The smell was terrible, and for a moment he wished he was a ghost too, not being able to smell anything.

Connor listened to the debrief has he looked around for any evidence.

 

The dead evidence.

Carlos’ ghost looked terrible with his blank eyes and the… 28 holes in his chest.

 

“Hello, could you help me to find who did this and tell me what happened?” He whispered.

 

The ghost was surprised.

 

_ “A deviant is going to come to me on my case? Hell no.” _ He snickered.

 

Connor sighed. It really wasn’t his day.

 

“Look I’m trying to help you here. You are dead, what do you have to lose? Some kind of honor? You died all alone in your house, you smell terrible and you did drugs. Please.”

 

The ghost looked offended, but laughed after a moment.

 

_ “M’okay, I like you, you’re fun.” _

 

The ghost floated to the kitchen and Connor followed him.

 

_ “The shithead came to me for help a few months ago. He had been kicked out of his house by his parents, and I was his closest relative. At first I didn’t mind, but after a while he started to piss me off. He didn’t want to leave or help me in any way. I hit him out of frustration. I learned that day that he had been kicked out because he was a deviant.” _

 

The ghost sat on of the chair, and Connor wondered if it was a ghost thing to sit while you are explaining how you died.

 

_ “He can regenerate faster. Not crazy fast, but fast enough for a black eye to heal in a few hours. I took the habit to get rid of my frustration on him. That day, I took the baseball bat and hit him. I guess he had enough and used a knife over here to stab me.” _

 

He got up and walk over his corpse.

 

_ “I tried to get away but he was stronger. I fell and he continuously stabbed me. Oh and he took his sweet time to write “I am human too” with my own damn blood on the wall” _

 

_ “Did it hurt?” _

 

Connor turned around to see Cole standing next his dad.

 

_ “What the fuck is this kid doing here.” _

 

“Cole! What are  _ you  _ doing here! You are a child!” Connor shushed.

 

Hank heard him talking and visibly tensed.

 

_ “I’m technically eight years old! Plus it’s not the first time I’ve seen this kind of thingies …”  _

 

“You’re still a child! You could have waited for him outside the house!” Connor whispered, uneasy. Hank walked over him.

 

“Alright, cut the whisperings and tell me what you found.”

 

The two ghosts stayed quiet as Connor reported to the Lieutenant what Carlos said to him.

 

“It fits the evidences here, but it doesn’t tell us where the deviant went.”

 

“I’m on it.”

 

Connor tilted his head, staring at Carlos. He rolled his eyes.

 

_“Yeah I know where the asshole went. He’s hiding in the attic like a coward.”_ He pointed at the little trapdoor in the hallway.

 

He didn’t thank him, and went to take a chair in the kitchen.

 

“What are you doing?” Hank asked, not exactly caring.

 

“I just need to verify something, Lieutenant.” 

 

He used the chair to climb in the attic. It was very messy and dusty and Connor coughed. He heard someone shifting and the wood creak. He went in that direction and found the murderer sitting on the floor, hunched with his knees against his chest. He had a lot of scars on his face and arms. Connor guessed it wasn’t the only place he had been hit.

 

“I was just defending myself.” The deviant started, shaking, “I’m begging you, don’t tell them.”

 

Connor stared at the deviant for a moment.

 

“What the hell are you doing up here?” He heard the Lieutenant yelling.

 

“Please…” The deviant begged.

 

“The murderer is up here.” He yelled, still looking at the deviant. He could feel Daniel’s presence behind him.

 

___

 

Kara sat awkwardly at the table. She watched Alice and Todd eating the spaghetti she made but didn’t touch her own plate. She wasn’t hungry.

Alice didn’t eat much either. She twirled the pasta around her fork, then let it fall on the plate.

 

“I hire a caretaker for you, and you don’t even eat what she made you? You know we’re financially challenged, I could have just let you eat those shitty pizzas we used to get. Now be grateful and finish your god damn plate.” Todd snarled.

 

“She doesn’t have to if she’s not hungry, it’s alright.” Kara calmly assured. She could feel Todd’s anger and Alice’s fear rising.

 

“She needs to learn some manners.” He retorted angrily at Kara, he turned his face to look at Alice once again, “What are you looking at?”

 

Alice was shaking, she looked down at her plate. Her aura was a dark green, become darker and darker each second passing. She held her plush tighter, nails digging into it. 

 

“What’s your fucking problem? It’s not the life you dreamed of?” Todd’s aura became darker too, but his was red. Blood red.

 

“Are you sad you’re not living in your princess castle? That your fucking mom took off without you? If only you helped me  like I asked you to none of this would have happened! ”

 

“Todd let's not fight-” Kara tried to calm him, but even with her power he only became angrier. 

 

“You shut up!" Todd stood up abruptly. Kara sank further into her chair. She was scared. She wanted to help Alice but couldn’t move.

 

He stomped over his daughter, still yelling at her. She stood up too, edging away slowly. 

 

“Why do you never fucking listen to me, uh?” He raged, raising his hand as her warning. 

 

She begged and Todd slapped her.

 

The girl touched her red cheek, tears filling her eyes. She ran to her room. Even up here, Kara could feel her fear. It was infesting her too.

 

“Come back here right now!” He yelled. He sat on the sofa, snatching his packet of red ice, muttering angrily. “Fucking brat. If only she listened to me, everything would be perfect today.”

 

Kara knew she should be doing something,  _ now _ , but she just stood there, sitting on her chair, terrified. 

She gathered all her strength to get up,and walked over the stairs quietly.

 

“Don’t even fucking think of getting up here, she deserved that.” Todd hissed. He stood up to look at Kara straight in her eyes.

 

Kara was shaking. 

 

Alice was afraid,  _ she  _ was afraid. The fear was filling every inch of her body, mixing with others emotions like anger, anxiety, distress,  _ too much, too much, too much- _

 

She let it all out. Todd felt on the floor, visibly shaking, unable to move. Kara stood there for a moment, forgetting what she wanted to do at first.

_ Protect Alice _

 

She ran upstairs. She entered Alice’s room, locking the door behind her. Alice was curled up, crying loudly while hugging her plush. 

Kara must have pushed her fear on her too. She tried to calm herself down to help Alice, but fear only rose up when she heard Todd banging on the door.

 

“GET BACK HERE!”

 

Kara did the first thing that came into her head. She grabbed Alice, carrying her with difficulty to the window. She opened it and helped Alice to climb outside.

 

Kara was halfway outside when Todd broke in.

 

“GIVE HER BACK!”

 

Todd caught her feet, and pulled her inside. Kara struggle to get away, and sent instead a wave of helplessness from Alice to Todd.

 

He let her go, and stared at them running away. She couldn’t describe what he was feeling. 

 

Kara saw a bus arriving, and ran to catch it, Alice’s hand in hers. They made it.

 

The bus was empty, and the empath was grateful of that. They sat at the back, letting Alice sit near the window. She brushed away the like girl’s tears with her thumb. 

She sent an hopeful wave to Alice, still holding her hand.

 

But Kara wasn’t hopeful. She was terrified. What has she just done?

 

___

 

“That was by far the most boring party I’ve been to in the last 25 years.” Carl complained as he and Markus entered the house. He continued to complain about the type of people that go there and how they only care about money when they entered the living room.

 

“Hey, Markus, can you pour me a glass of scotch, please?” Markus hummed.

 

“Okay, but you know what the doctor would say.” 

 

“He can kiss my ass, I’m old enough to choose my own medication!” Markus laughed as he poured the drink and gave it to his dad. He took a sip.

 

“Enough talking about me, let’s talk about you.”

 

“What do you wanna talk about?” He knew. Of course he knew what Carl wanted to talk about. He hoped he would at least wait until tomorrow for that discussion.

“What happened this afternoon of course, the painting.” 

 

“Wanna talk about the fact that I suddenly learned how to paint like you?” Markus poured himself a glass because he knew he would need it too.

 

“Of course not,” Carl sighed, “I want to talk about  _ what  _ you painted.”

 

Markus faced Carl and looked at him in the eyes.

 

“Listen I don’t know what that was. It has never happened before, and I hope it will never happen again.” He clipped. “I- I wasn’t in control of my own body, and I have no idea of what I painted.”

 

He looked at the ground, whispering.

 

“It scares me.”

 

“Markus-”

 

Carl wanted to comfort him, but kept quiet when an odd sound came from the studio. Markus took his phone out of his pocket and gave it to the older man.

 

“Call the police.” He ordered.

 

He quietly walked to the studio’s door. The light was on, meaning someone was really in there. He opened the door and was surprised to see his step-brother Leo. It has been years since they’d seen each other. He was folding up some of Carl’s paintings.

 

Carl entered the studio a few seconds later.

 

“Leo, what are you doing here?”

 

“I’m just passing by, taking the things that would have been mine sooner or later.” He said, inspecting one of the pieces. “Do you know how much people would pay for this? It’s crazy.”

 

“Don’t touch ‘em.” Carl ordered. 

 

Markus fingers twitched. He saw himself moving, he saw at least thousand of ways to stop Leo before he could move a finger. His  chip flashed yellow, helping him to stabilize his power. He didn't want to know that. 

 

“Why not?” He turned around to look at him. He let out a “oh” like he understood something, “Were they for your deviant protegee? Not for your real son?”

 

“Leo, I gave  _ a lot _ , but you always ask for more. I can’t give you everything I have. Now just go away, that will be easier for both of us.” Carl was tired and hurt, Markus could hear it in his voice.

 

“All you ever told me is to go away. What’s wrong, dad? Am I not good enough?” He gestured at Markus angrily, “It’s because I’m not like  _ him _ ?”

 

He pushed Markus.

 

“Let’s see who’s better right now then! Come on, hit me if you’re  _ so good _ !” Leo taunted, pushing Markus again.

 

“Don’t fight, Markus.” Carl ordered. Markus wanted this to stop. His father didn’t look alright, and Leo was getting on his nerves.

 

“Or what? Why shouldn’t you fight,  _ Markus _ ?” He hated the way Leo emphasize his name.

 

Distantly, he heard Carl warning him and Leo taunting him more. Golden figures appeared. Him punching Leo in the stomach, in the chest, in the ribs… 

 

_ Old habits die hard _ .

 

Markus punched him in the face.

 

Leo felt on the floor, hitting his head. Markus saw how he could hurt him more, how he could  _ kill  _ him. It was useless, he had already been knocked out. 

He took a step back anyway, fearing what he could do. 

 

Carl got off his wheelchair, crawling on the floor to help Leo.

 

Markus was numb. He heard his father urging him to go away but he didn’t. He just stayed there.

When the police came in, holding guns, he didn’t move either. 

 

Markus couldn't talk, he couldn't move. 

 

They yelled, pointing something toward him.

 

His eyes widened at the sight of the remote.

The policeman pressed it and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and commenting,,,, I appreciate aaaaaaaaa
> 
> Huum I have this very personal, maybe ooc, characterization of Connor so it might be weird for some of y'all... Also there will be a lot of canon divergences so yeah.
> 
> New characters and lots of running away in the the next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading, this far!  
> I'm really happy to get back into writing, I missed it... It's ironic how my previous fic was about a robot in a world with powers, and now it's the robots characters that have powers haha
> 
> Question, should I make end notes to resume everyone's power (when discovered)? Markus' power is a bit confusing for the moment, but I will explain it more in details in futur chapters.
> 
> Feel free to talk to me about dbh on tumblr @trans-hankanderson, I usually don't bite + I post my illustrations for this fic there!  
> Thanks to my beta readers lululablette and 22kazoos!


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